Analog Aesthetics

What a shame I moved all my warm clothes and jackets home already - it appears the German winter is making a comeback. I just put on another sweater and another pair of socks and turned on another heater. Enjoying Vatertag, a German holiday devoted to men and their drinking, but it's a bit less sunny than I had hoped, keeping me inside to work on my accomplishments and write a new article for musicismyweapon. My days at Deutsche Welle are speeding along, keeping me locked away in my office listening to interviews and adapting scripts.

What's new? My week in Clemson was much brighter, relaxing, and lovely than I had imagined. I spent the largest part of it reading in the sunshine and eating cheesecake, drinking wine with Aaron's parents, and remembering all the reasons I enjoy the company of a friend. Even a slow drive through the mountain countryside, feet propped on the dash, was a welcome change to Cologne's grey. We'll probably get a spring/summer soon, only I won't be around to see it.

So my plans have changed once again, but for those of you who have been around awhile, you're accustomed to this already: Washington, DC. Interestingly enough, this was my original plan upon moving to Germany, but it got buried under other plans, only to be shifted out from under the pile and put back on top. My two best friends already live there, Walter and Marc, not to mention my favorite radio programmer, NPR, along with a buffet of international cuisine, a great Master's program at Georgetown, and a short plane ride from Clemson. I didn't think anything would comfort me in my grief of leaving Germany, but I'm looking forward to moving. And permanence. I've been traveling the globe far too long, and now it's time to start doing all the things I love, stateside.

If you were lucky enough to get a copy of my spring mix, let me know what you thought of it. Or send me a mix in return. Or a letter. To the rest of you - send me an address and I'll get to work on making you a copy. One of these days I'll buy a CD burner and be able to make mixes on a weekly basis, especially now that I don't have my own music radio show; I'm itching to play you some new music. The Haldern Pop Spiegelzelt festival was beautiful, a refreshing whisper of music and breath of springtime along the Rhine.

I've decided to present my Fulbright research findings as audio, so editing interviews, mixing audio, and taping shows are all on the agenda. Music journalism is a nice hobby to have (along with dreaming of playing the harp).

As this was a long and vague update, I hope (as always) to not be so long in posting.
Get on the mic!